gehringer_2

Part of this is that the value of possession has gone up. I think the reason long passing is dying out is because it was never high percentage, but today's QBs can hit 70% completion rates throwing the short and intermediate routes, and that means you keep the ball, and that is everything in today's game. You have to score, and you need the ball to score. Go back a generation I'd guess there were more punts, each possession was worth less, low percentage plays with high return like the long pass made more sense. Go back 2 generations and you had the old clock rules that made the game much longer and single possession even less important. So it's been a very long term trend in one direction, and it takes years for players and coaches that came up in different circumstances to all either change their ways or retire.... LOL - sort of the inverse of the disappearance of the mid-range jumper in the NBA, which still hung around decades after the 3 pt shot came in.

I'd be more interested in the series result than just the first game, though generally a 1st game win tilt the odds the rest of the way in the winner's favor. For instance, a confounding factor would be that the (better) team on the layoff may also have the single most dominant pitcher in the series, that factor could wash out all the others for the first game.

used up your freebies, eh?

always my same question about leaving hitters in AAA. I think you can get too acclimated once you reach a reasonable level of success against a certain pitching level. Doesn't a guy like Edvinsson need to see and learn to deal with offensive players who do exactly what guys in the AHL can't show him? It's one thing with a guy like McIsaac where you questioned he was ever going to make it at all (and he didn't), but the assumption has to be that Edvinsson is going to play in the NHL.

It's almost funny that the Lions have gone so 180 deg at QB. Stafford to Goff is almost whiplash: Stafford, who could make all kinds of 'wow, did you see that' plays, but often (at least early in his career) made mistakes, to the ultimate methodical, workman, almost never make a mistake surgeon where at the end of day the opposition says, "How did *that* guy beat us?"

LOL! McCarthy is so untrustworthy he can't even trust himself - throws his hat back in the ring to be re-elected speaker! https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/09/house-republican-speaker/ Pointless windmill tilt though. He'd need some Dem support and I think he's just burned too many bridges there. Besides the Dems have to love having the best House GOP fund-raiser cut down. I would think if a half dozen Dems finally back a GOP speaker candidate to get the House off the snide even Scalise would be more likely than McCarthy.

Been there, done that?

I actually wouldn't mind doing a split/double season. Play 70, have a short midsummer playoff tournament. Then the inter-season trade period. Then play 70 more with another closing tournament. A season so long that the losers end up 40 games behind isn't particularly good for anything or anyone. And to reward aggressive management, the teams that improve between halves get draft bonuses in proportion to the increase in games won.

Mind games with the youngsters? Hoping for lightning in a bottle from guys there really is no reason to expect it from? Who Knows? The only important question is will they move on from the non-performers once they show who they are or will they gnaw the cold dead ends of contracts gone awry.

it is true that because of the very long season, oft times the team that finishes the season is nothing like the team that started it, being in a state where it is is either much better or much worse than its total seasonal record, and the other thing is that between a single pair of teams, particular match-up issues may drive the odds for their games more than overall win-loss record difference. But I'm not sure how you get out of the box on this because I believe that byes end up being more a more a penalty than an aid in baseball. I suppose the division winner could allowed to start a runner at 2nd at the top one or two innings per game......

There's incentive to win your division if you play the lower seeded team and have home field. If that's not enough just make it more money - 🤷‍♀️

1st round byes are no advantage in baseball. That's the only reason I'm willing to see the format changed even if it means adding teams. The layoff degrades your hitters' timing and trashes your pitching rotation. Apparently the people that set this system up were either football people, or people who didn't know the difference between the two.

Situation unchanged since the day he was drafted.

According to the local rag (Detnews) : so there's that.

Williams is still a big key to their ceiling going forward. When your best downfield receiver is a TE, you need better downfield receivers. Which, just to be clear - is no knock on LaPorta,

that blitz didn't work

yeah, you wan't him to have to make the shortest punt do decline the DOG. I'm not sure you have the option on a procedure call?

that was almost too easy

bad place to waste a challenge

There are definitely toxic cultures out there - sometimes related to religion but not necessarily. The Russians have been just as murderous as Islamic radicals like Hamas - and Putin would claim it's being done in the service the Orthodox church, but since half of his army is actually Muslim that probably doesn't really wash either.

OTOH, he'd been playing high level sports for a long time before it hit so something changed for him. It's tempting to say whatever changed should be able to be changed back, but not always how it works.....

I was surprised no-one on the team had even been keeping in communication with him. I guess since his contract is up and he was done for the year, there was no 'investment' interest at play, but I still found that odd. Maybe isolation was the prescription - who knows? We don't know if his issues are just a baseball performance thing or if he's having broader problems generally. I sort of thought if he were doing OK in life outside his own baseball career he might have shown up to see Parker play. I can understand enough of the reasons why he wouldn't but I still thought he might.

There is an epidemic of coaches not taking sure points. And the thing is, it's sort of self-reinforcing because since they lost by 20, you can look back and justify yourself that 3 points didn't matter. Amirite?

Make it 10. Should have been 14 but Tua V2.0 missed a wide open TD.

MLive story makes it sound like they're sending Edvinsson out to play Chariot. I'm really done with Ilitch managements that won't commit to where the future clearly has to be - both the Wings and the Tigers. I don't believe for 2 seconds that more time at GR actually 'benefits' Edvinsson. He'll still need to get over an NHL learning curve when he gets there - more time at GR isn't going to change that much.